The Incredible Rise & Fall of BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO: WOW! What a Difference!

[@cardboardempire]

I was a Blockbuster Video store manager for 4 years. Best job I ever had. 10 free rentals a week, laid-back work environment, chill coworkers and (mostly) cool customers. You watched and talked about movies and tv series all day. Fun

[@NoSuRReNDeR001]

it was great getting free movies back then plus games counted in the 5 so as a gamer and STORE manager I was happy

[@antr7493]

My manager use to let me take the new releases home before they were release. Plus we bartered free rentals with local businesses (taco bell, pizzerias , etc)

[@patrickgarvin2570]

I also had the privilege of working at Blockbuster. Still the best job I've ever had. Fun place, good people, and what better way to spend your time than talking about movies and video games. Truly missed...

[@Xenomrph]

@@antr7493your manager wasn’t just “letting you” borrow movies before release, that was an intentional perk of the job - how can you comment on and recommend new movies to customers if you haven’t seen them before the customers have?

[@cardboardempire]

@@antr7493 Haha, I remember trading free rentals for a parking spot at the beer store next door. Good times.

[@vitpham9722]

It's Friday night, your dad says you can pick out one game and movie for the weekend, next hour was spent roaming the aisles for the right ones. Life was good.

[@ErrorEmpirE]

I want to bring that magic back

[@gambitgrey3920]

It was. It very much was

[@HarmlessChildren]

And then, 4 days later, 9/11 happened.

[@comettamer]

Truth

[@LucLightWolf121]

Remember it well. Good times.😊

[@Randomark3087]

Kids today will never know the feeling of walking around a Blockbuster on Friday afternoon/evening.....

[@steprockmedia]

Often next door to a pizza place because THAT is a great Friday.

[@lutherheggs451]

Good. It was Blockbuster that pushed out the independent video stores. Open too many stores but also have "exclusive" deals to keep new releases out of independent stores to kill independent stores then when you choke out the "competition, close the stores you no longer need. Its the same thing Wal-Mart does and partially the same thing GameStop does. Its hilarious they were so stupid and greedy that they were killed by Netflix when they had an opportunity to buy Netflix before it too off.

[@KootenaiKing]

Even if they did, they would say "iM bOoOreeed........."

[@nobodynothing6551]

I take my kids to movie trading company for this feeling.

[@c0ldsh0w3r]

The first time I picked Resident Evil 2 off the shelf was a watershed moment.

[@whimai412]

So for anyone that misses the video store experience I would highly suggest checking out your library. Most places have a decent selection or reserving stuff online to pick up. Still gives you a more social experience and looking at actual move cases is so much better. And the special features. :3

[@Deephouse_Gent66]

@whimai412 - You are very right about that. I occasionally do stop by the library after work to pick up an odd film from time to time because, contrary to popular belief--every movie is not available to stream somewhere, especially in regard to OLDER films.

[@Ottophil]

@@Deephouse_Gent66old movies were square and colorless

[@Deephouse_Gent66]

@@Ottophil - Hah! Some were at my library. Others actually had regular but aged display cases.

[@Healthy_Toki]

The library owns for physical media but you can't go and browse at 8pm on a friday with your sweetheart sadly.

[@craigamore2319]

It's not quite the same.

[@mzread-aloud6804]

In the little town where I grew up we had three or four video stores. The one closest to me was one where as a kid I would rollerblade in and help out at. For my trouble, the manager would suggest classic films and let me take them home free of charge, and he got me hooked. Later I worked at Blockbuster, and I was so happy to work there that I researched the movies coming out, age demographics, trending tastes, and actively surveyed my community for what they liked to watch. My store actually "made" a position for me, where all I did was walk around, ask some basic questions of the customers, and then suggest titles they would like. I got so good at it people would ask for my schedule so I would be there when they would want to get a movie. I loved working there.

[@peterjaketalkswrasslin6920]

This is a fantastic story. That’s your creation… how cool is that!?!?

[@iscariot666]

What do you do nowadays?

[@sirraf23]

Bro you were literally a KZbin movie critic before KZbin. I bet there's still people that remember you and have nostalgic memories connected to your suggestions to this day.

[@Redmenace96]

Great story! That's the way I remember it. BB was a social hub.

[@yowatchie]

That’s cool as hell.

[@OldManTheseDays]

There is just nothing like the experience of going to a video rental store in the 80s-early 90s. Browsing the shelves, finding new stuff you’ve never heard of, picking a movie solely on the cover and the description on the back. The Blockbuster I used to go to had an “employee picks” section. In the days before the internet it was the best way to find new stuff. Miss that. It’s just not the same scrolling through a streaming service.

[@Redmenace96]

My memory is Latest Releases being empty, and then you had to hunt and peck for something similar. Opened my eyes to alt cinema. Great experience.

[@lordsxman]

I miss being able to talk to the employees about their picks and why they liked what they liked. That helped me develop my tastes.

[@joeblankenship377]

We never had a Blockbuster in my small hometown in Tennessee. But at one time, we had about 5-6 mom/pop video stores. Movie Gallery eventually came and shut down half of them. My store of choice was simply called "The Video Store". It was about a 5 minute bike ride away from my house. My parents were friendly with the owners, so there was never a problem if me and my friends wanted to rent an R-rated movie. And they were pretty cool with video game rentals--if ya got home and the game sucked, you could bring it back in and swap for a different game. I sure miss that place. RIP "The Video Store."

[@mossryder]

My town of ~2000 pop had 4: Webber's, Video Connection, and both grocery stores.

[@TimUp]

My tiny hometown had Hi Ho Video. It was a small store with dark cramped aisles between display shelves. If you wound too far back there was a life-size cardboard cut-out of Freddy Krueger that scared the he'll out of me when I was young. The place kinda smelled like a library, but always mixed with popcorn, and sometimes pizza. It was where I got so many NES games. You got a 2-day rental on Friday, and you could keep it til Monday because they weren't open on Sunday. As a kid I thought I was cheating the system to get that extra day.

[@scarymcclary]

My mind was blown when it went from renting Friday to returning Sunday to getting a rental for a WHOLE WEEK! WHAT IS THIS MADNESS!?

[@tagreene06]

Me too

[@theincredibletvchannel4297]

I go back to the days before Blockbuster. I preferred the non chain video store days.

[@ariadnefrolich7243]

Now whenever I rent a film online I have at most 2 days to finish watching the film once I've started it. I hate how short that time period is; bring back week long rentals!

[@chrispollard341]

To be honest, I always preferred the mom n pop stores, as they took more risks on what they kept in stock, especially in the horror section.

[@ragnakak]

Yeah and they also just seemed to keep more older movies whereas blockbuster/hollywood video etc focused more on newer releases. Also my local place was the first place I saw anime for sale/rent when it was still an underground thing in the US

[@mjwbulich]

Blockbusters' selection of older films, especially genre films, was abysmal. Their name said it all. It it wasn't a mainstream Hollywood film, then they didn't have it.

[@JohnnyD5]

We had a mom and pop rental store near my house when I was a kid called Star Video and let me tell you they had the best obscure horror movie selection of all time. I miss that place so much!

[@christopherhare4606]

Still remember some of the local video stores I would visit regularly as a kid. I still hear the jingle for Top Video and, yes, they had THAT room too. I must have rented Earthbound on SNES at least dozen times in a row so someone else wouldn't overwrite my save and I could beat it. I did the same with Leisure Suit Larry on Playstation because I was too embarrassed to buy it.

[@sedogaru]

WHOA! I was a producer on At The Video Store, directed by my good friend of many many years, James Westby. My worlds have collided!

[@joeybaseball7352]

Netflix offered to sell their company to Blockbuster for $50 million, and Blockbuster laughed them out of the room.

[@jso6790]

Probably a good thing, frankly, because Blockbuster probably would have ruined Netflix, and who knows who would have figured out streaming! I mean Hulu was originally supposed to be a KZbin competitor, so they wouldn't have figured streaming the way Netflix did.

[@joeybaseball7352]

@@jso6790 Hulu actually began as a social experiment by all the major TV networks to put ads on streaming video. Because before hulu, you could watch anything on the internet, completely ad-free, and hulu was initially free. They wanted to see much how much viewers would tolerate ads on streaming video. Hulu is perhaps the pioneer in ruining streaming video for everyone.

[@eddiejoewalt7746]

THAT and Blockbuster got rid of late fees to rival Netflix was their downfall

[@NoSuRReNDeR001]

FALSE ---- thats NOT WHAT happened it was becuase it was scene as a MONOPLY - BB wanted to BUY them I WAS THERE i was on the damn call

[@NoSuRReNDeR001]

@@eddiejoewalt7746 Late fees yes BUT THEY NEVER laughed them, out the room thats a FLASE narrative th FCC THREATHED them with ANTITRUST

[@lamartherevenger]

We had 3 or 4 in my hometown when VHS rentals hit. The first one was in a remodeled funeral home. Heck the grocery story even had a rental spinner rack.

[@Dargonhuman]

We had a small local region chain of drug stores called Long's Drugs (they were eventually absorbed into CVS) that featured a small but respectable selection of movies and video games for rent. They even had a small drop slot in the window to return rentals after hours so you wouldn't get a late fee. To this day I can tell which CVS stores used to be Long's just by finding the drop slot, even if the slot has long been sealed shut with welds or heavy screws and silicone sealant.

[@CaptainxCSNx]

I always preferred Hollywood Videos selection. Plus Game Crazy was the most fun job I've ever had.

[@mccallosone4903]

Hollywood Video was far superior to blockbuster. had way more classic stock, even if it wasnt arranged as nicely. the employees would waive late fees and give you deals if they liked you

[@JohnnyD5]

I live right near the last Blockbuster on Earth and I rent movies there weekly. It’s awesome!

[@gundambassexe31]

I remember blockbuster! Last saw them via a comic section via my amc theaters years ago but that's another story

[@lloydhendric1281]

I worked at Blockbuster in Ireland. After blockbuster went under in 2006, we kept all the store running. They finally closed 2016. After changing hands a whole bunch of time, the company still has an online store to buy movies from. It was a wild ride.

[@kolonarulez5222]

My rental store was Hastings. Nothing compares to those horror dvd covers I'd spend ages looking at but too scared to rent.

[@jamesedward3619]

Dude, same, haha, I used to spend most of my time in the video store just looking at the covers and backs of movies in the horror section and imagining all the scary things that must happen in them. Once I reached my teens and actually started watching horror movies, I realized they were all way less scary than I ever imagined, haha.

[@drgribb]

The covers on the Hellraiser tapes terrified me 😆

[@sim4344]

It's so weird to me that Blockbuster's main accomplishment was being a textbook example of "Why monopolies are a bad thing" but so many people remember it fondly. If they have any complaints, it's the late fees. Which. Y'know. Just take the movie back on time.

[@Dargonhuman]

We remember it "fondly" because for many people, that was the _only_ option for rentals. Once Blockbuster moved into a town, every small mom n pop store or smaller franchise store inevitably went out of business due to their inability to compete with Blockbuster.

[@sim4344]

@@Dargonhuman Uhm. Yes, that literally my exact point. We used to have a small regional chain store, a couple more places that came and went over the years, and a couple of the grocery stores rented movies. And then we had Blockbuster. And then we had nothing. So f**k Blockbuster.

[@ImNotJoshBoltz]

That's because they don't really miss Blockbuster, they miss being young.

[@BrenttheBlackSheep]

Blockbuster crushed my grandmother’s video store “videolan” she had to close January 1999. Most people didn’t understand a VHS in the 80s and 90s cost 90-100$ unless it was a blockbuster that would be released for 19.99. Blockbuster made it impossible for mom and pop to compete

[@tinyj4520]

Nah. The real Mom and Pops knew to bootleg. They'd make "replacement boxes" and blank tapes "for sale" in back.

[@BrenttheBlackSheep]

She tried that towards the very end but it still wasn't enough

[@tinyj4520]

@@BrenttheBlackSheep "Very end". Dang. If she'd started day one she could've had 30 years worth of movies to rent, with R rated/ anime movies. Blockbuster can't compete with that.

[@CaptainHavfun-lp4ok]

NO. Vids only cost that much, if they were for rent. Blockbuster paid 100 per tape too. I worked in Hollywood. The reason the tapes were so expensive to stores, was because they were used to make money. Not personal use. SO, they had to pay more.

[@tinyj4520]

@@CaptainHavfun-lp4ok Which is why you cheat. What part of this is confusing?

[@wstine79]

I was more of a Hollywood Video and Action Video man myself. I do miss those 4 for $10 video and 4 for $20 DVD sales on used media.

[@drkswordsman]

I remember when Blockbuster came out in my town in the 80s, moving across the country and having to wait years for Blockbuster to take over. I worked at one of those mom and pop rental places in high school and worked for Blockbuster for part of college. The whole movie rental experience is SORELY missed!

[@sithcarebear1]

Fantastic Video! I loved nothing more than going to Blockbuster with my mom on Friday night to rent movies to watch for the weekend. It was a sad day when they closed their doors. Like so many things from my childhood, they were just suddenly gone… Since my mother’s passing earlier this year, I long for those things and that time more than ever. Thank you for that walk down Memory Lane and for championing the era of the video store and all the nostalgia you dive into with your content. It really means a lot to so many of us. Cheers🍻

[@AdamYJ]

Here in the Latham, New York area, I remember the earliest video rentals coming from a special section in the supermarket (like how modern Wal-Marts may have an optician and a Subway in them). Others may have existed, but I didn’t go to them. Then we got a Blockbuster Video, which eventually got replaced by a Hollywood Video. And nowadays I just borrow DVDs and blu-rays from the public library.

[@christopherwebb3517]

I remember when video stores of all shapes and sizes were everywhere. Half of the convenient stores in my neighborhood tried their hand at video rentals, and would section off a part of their stores and turn them into mini video stores.

[@kenjones9326]

There goes my childhood and early adulthood in one catch phrase. "Wow! What a difference?!"

[@mccallosone4903]

People say they are nostalgic for Blockbuster, but in reality its not the store they miss. its the activity of going to an actual PLACE with your friends, debating which movies to get, then grabbing pizza n beer and heading home. then everyone is hanging for hours upon watching films, sharing the experience, with no one staring at a phone instead of being engaged with the group. its not the pain in the ass of expensive rentals, out of stock movies, and late fees that folks miss, its doing actual activities with real people.

[@Healthy_Toki]

Exactly - nobody needs late fees and a lot of the other junk but the experience of going somewhere and wandering around browsing with friends absolutely destroys scrolling through streaming services. It was more alive. The movie selection also completely decimates streaming.

[@Dargonhuman]

The town I grew up in had a Blockbuster open in a strip mall two doors down from a Pizza Hut with a Baskin Robbins in the next parking lot over. To say those locations were busy on the weekends, _especially_ in the summer months, is a massive understatement.

[@timboslice9905]

Well said! You’ve nailed it. Nothing beat that feeling. Man, the things we lost…..

[@-Anonymous-.]

Which means they miss Block Buster. None of those memories would exist if the store never did.

[@Freakazoid12345]

I spend all my time alone on my phone or laptop now😢

[@Zypher2887]

I actually never went into a blockbuster I grew up in Maine and we had this chain called movie gallery it was basically the same thing from what I hear I loved it growing up renting movies and later videogames was the best it's weird that after all these years with all these streaming services and the ability to rent movies from lots of them digitally or buy games digitally I still really miss being able to go into a brick and mortar store and look around see what jumps out at me and try out a new movie with a buddy who's sleeping over or renting a videogame for the weekend

[@CEOdawg]

The video rental store for me as a kid in DC was Erol's. There were a couple of mom-and-pop stores, but Erol's was what my mom took me to. Once Blockbuster took it over, we would still go. However, by the time DVDs became a thing, I was in college, Mom had gotten back into cable, and rentals weren't a big deal anymore.

[@fju1107]

I worked at a video store (1st Choice Video!) in my neighborhood and there were at least 3 or 4 others within a 10 block radius. Once the Blockbuster moved in, they all disappeared in a matter of 2-3 years.

[@kazecloud2916]

There were a few small rental places we had gone to because a blockbuster didn't exist in the area. Eventually we had a place called Latest and greatest open up and that shut all the other places down. Until Blockbuster finally opened up a store across the street from Latest and greatest and took them down. That blockbuster lasted until they announced the bankruptcy. When they announced the closure they actually closed the store for 3 to 5 days (I can't remember how long honestly) and left a sign out telling everyone they will reopen but they need to get all the inventory back and if you had a tape and didn't return it they will charge you for it. I got a couple of stacks of movies and games before it shut down. I was just talking to my friends about how I miss going to the rental store looking for something to watch or play for the weekend.

[@nasaboy87]

Funnily enough when Movie Gallery shut down in my hometown Family Video bought all the shelves, rental desk, and movies and took over the same location. Unfortunately it's now a gym.

[@briangarvey6895]

I do remember going into a Blockbuster near my house. In California in 1989 or 90 and seeing the very tiny section at the back labeled 'La Blue Cinema' that had suspicious boxes with lots of black bars on the actors and actresses on its packaging. It vanished just a short time later.

[@Winterydee]

Of you lived in a larger place that had multiple video rental stores, if you ended up with "late fees" at one Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, you could just go to the next one near you, start née membership their and never pay those late fees. Oh, the joys of living during 1990s, when each store only had a localized computer network, so the rest of the company had no idea how bad you were about returning videos and video games on time. Plus, most people and companies were only using up to 56k over phonelines and networking connections were a pain in the backside! I also still remember the panic of trying to make it the store in time so that you wouldn't get charged a late fee!

[@Traumaqueenamy]

During my childhood growing up in Baton Rouge Louisiana I rented videos and NES games from a local store called Video Co-op. After moving to Orlando Florida in the mid 90s I started going to Blockbuster where I rented videos and video games until the mid to late 2000s when I pretty much stopped. I've become nostalgic about rental stores now.

[@MoviePalaceOfBlood]

Oh, and at 18 I returned to 1 of my indie childhood video stores to finally enter their "adult" section. They were looking to get rid of their VHS/DVD back there so I ended up buying some "backroom" films from there, always thought that was pretty cool I got to do that.

[@joeschmoe5231]

As a kid that grew up in the 90s every Friday I would beg my parents to take me to Blockbuster to rent movies, SNES & Genesis games.(Then we would rush home to watch TGIF).

[@joshua2814]

At one point in the late 90s I actually had 5 different video store memberships (only one was Blockbuster and that was the only one not actually in my town). Now that Netflix has abandoned me and given up physical discs, I miss them more than ever.

[@jediofossus882]

I remember returning some anime and games at my local Blockbuster and was going to pick up my preorder of Zone of the Enders. They sold my game to someone else and changed rental times a day after i rented so my rental that i returned on time was now late and that was the last time i went into a Blockbuster.

[@zarnistastudios]

Fantastic retrospective as always. I sometimes miss going to the store on a date night and discover something new. But I also love having everything at my fingertips although it’s way too much.

[@EvaFull]

Here’s for the fans from the ‘80’s that lived in Michigan & remember going to “Video Watch” to get a couple weekend rentals.

[@mikemayberry7121]

I worked at Blockbuster for 10 years off and on. Depending on where I moved to and what was local I'd work either Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, so video rental was basically my career. I was assistant manager for a while, too. Made decent money and got free rentals and other discounts. Man, I miss that job.

[@RadSalacan]

Right up the street from me was a place called Homevision Video. That was a very small little store front in a strip mall. That was closed down and the strip mall it was located in was remodeled for a Hollywood Video. The Hollywood Video was enormous! Made the Homevision look absolutely tiny.

[@anon_laughing_man]

I miss video stores for all the reasons stated. It is a real bummer that now people sit at home stuck on the couch pushing buttons to watch a movie instead of going out and socializing. In this way video stores were much like record stores. Hollywood Video was always our jam. We loved our Hollywood video. It was a fun place to be talking about cool movies and hanging out.

[@drgribb]

I'm glad someone else gets the record store connection! Comic book/tabletop stores too, for that matter

[@Dargonhuman]

Our Hollywood Video had a smaller store attached to it that was dedicated to just video games and had demo consoles for every major console out at the time with a rotating selection of the biggest releases to play. My friends and I would go hang out there just to play the demos for hours until the employee on duty told us to leave.

[@CaptainHavfun-lp4ok]

Going out to rent videos was annoying. Who socialized? Like, how many friends did you make at a video store? Most people just wanted to rent videos, and get out.

[@jamiecashes]

I worked on the clock for 24hours at blockbuster when we had to convert the store from VHS to DVD, what fun! 😂 got paid overtime for that one. The opening manger called out so I had to cover the opening shift and I was scheduled to come in the afternoon and close and work overnight for the conversion. I ordered pizza from the Italian restaurant in the plaza and had a pizza party at closing before working on the store. So many cool movies were lost when Blockbuster took over. Not all VHS were converted to DVD. A Lot of the more obscure movies acquired when they bought up mom and pop shops were added to the library section for $1 rentals, and if they weren't rented in a month they would be put on sale, and if not bought in two weeks, they were "supposed" to be destroyed 😭

[@orinanime]

Growing up going back and forth between the city and small towns where my family lived, we had Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, and a few local "mom and pop" video rental stores.

[@mikebandw186]

I was a member of the Blockbuster DVD rentals. It was a great option. Unlimited rentals (3 at a time), and when you returned them through the store, they shipped out whatever was next on your queue. You could rotate one movie per day. It was great.

[@nicolaushoertkorn9836]

I won a Star Wars Phantom Menace life size Yoda statue at my local Blockbuster. I remember stuffing the ballot box with over a hundred entries and later that day receiving that call. Yoda riding shotgun on the way home. Parents stopping at Godfathers Pizza to celebrate. Amazing memories

[@AC-ih7jc]

I can't say if it was corporate policy, but you could make a pretty accurate forecast of where a new Blockbuster would pop up... ...usually within line of sight of an existing Mom & Pop video rental store. And unless Mom & Pop had an adult section, they were usually shuttered within a year.

[@marchof34]

Used to work at a BB and was a manager up until the very end. Sad it closed.

[@cardboardempire]

I was too but I seen the writing on the wall 2 years before they closed. I resigned as SM then went to work for a bank. Was sad though, it was a fun place to work.

[@e.d.t.]

Nothing like making it a Blockbuster night with a video rental, a game rental, and sometimes the occasional Gamepro or Nintendo Power magazine. We used to go to Erols before Blockbuster showed up, didn't realize they'd been bought out. Well, they're both relics now. I still have some keepsakes like a couple SNES games they sold with the Blockbuster stickers still on them and the card my parents let me use. You can't get THAT from Netflix.

[@sirdaveysockrocker]

As a kid we have a giant video store called "Power Video" that had murals painted in each section. Humphrey Bogart in the drama, bug bunny in the kids section, and in the center of the store was a little wooden shack on short stilts that held the horror movies. It was dark and movie theater aisle lights lined all the shelves so you could see the VHS boxes, and it had spooky music playing and a smoke machine or dry ice going, covering the floor with mist. I was so afraid of that shack, and over weeks I mustered enough energy to go in, and as soon as I saw the movie cover of a skeleton with eyeballs, I ran out like a bat out of hell. 😅

[@HollowBox]

Classic , anybody remember blockbuster music or sound warehouse ?

[@romonarussum4032]

Yes, went there all the time

[@projectgraham414]

I loved Blockbuster so much. We also had Movie Merchants in south central PA, and they were great. They'd give away their stand-ups and posters when they were done with them. I came away with a Fifth Element poster, and a three sided Breakdown/The Saint/FaceOff stand-up, among other things. It was awesome

[@mightyfilm]

While my family had memberships at both Blockbuster and West Coast Video (on the east coast), I was always jealous of the little out of town indie places and their weirder/wider selection of rentals. Particularly their animated offerings. They catered their animation to a more adult audience, in the nostalgic and experimental indie sense that is. So you'd see things like Roger Ramjet and film festival animation compilations. Some were around long after Blockbuster ended. I remember this one I went to when I was in Maine. It had a huge cult section. Even had DVD's of Kure Kure Takora (weird Japanese live action kid's show, probably the inspiration for Yo Gabba Gabba). Not that there wasn't decent stuff at Blockbuster when I was a kid, but their animation was just kids' stuff, maybe a couple Beavis and Butt-Heads and a Simpsons here and there.

[@iamthebiggs252]

Movie Mania was around in my hometown before Blockbuster arrived. Not only did they have that "beaded curtain", but their big draw was free popcorn from the popcorn machine while you perused the store.(For REAL nostalgia, there was a "Flavored Popcorn" store next door.) Eventually, Blockbuster did arrive and Movie Mania was gone by 1990.

[@eerieeric834]

I only remember going into a blockbusters once in my life, and that was with my best friend when we were teenagers and it was completely abandoned, nobody was in there, but the workers and maybe one other person besides us

[@jimmylarson7856]

I’ll never forget my time working for blockbuster (2003-2008) best job ever and I worked at a mom and pop simultaneously

[@3CH0plays]

I worked at Blockbuster for 2 years and absolutely loved it! Was such a cool place to work.

[@joe4illinois]

In Chicago We're fortunate to have still a few video stores that are still open

[@miker6570]

I live in the chicago area and worked for a blockbuster for a few years. I would like to know which one is still open. To my knowledge all blockbuster stores across the country are closed except for one in oregon. And that one is still open because that one was one of a very small handful that were franchise owned.

[@joe4illinois]

@@miker6570 I was referring to Independent video stores still in Chicago like the video strip and Archer Avenue or video playground on South kedzie. And there's still some around the suburbs like Mokena video which has a very good selection as well

[@MadSpaceWolfDiary]

Was going to say the same. Redbox killed off ehat few local grocery store ones had like Dominc's or Jewel's. Funny they had the grand opening of the oak lawn ine at the end their. That was my families orefered store despite being miles away​ after all the ones in justice and beidgeview closed. And country side took too long to get to. @miker6570

[@hxcnoel]

My family would go to Blockbuster pretty often, but we were just as likely to rent from the video section at our local Furr's grocery store. Me and my brother were allowed to pick one movie and one game. We had SNES at that time, so a lot of my favorite games were discovered through rental

[@scottcampbell9515]

There was a place called Video Towne my family went to, and it has a room behind saloon doors that I was not allowed to go into. This was back in the mid-late 80s.

[@RyanRead]

The memories of Blockbuster. From movies to games to yes even merchandise. My Star Trek First Contact came from Blockbuster.

[@actionvestadventure]

Blockbuster definitely tried in my city in AZ back in the day. They did take down some of the mom and pop stores and others: Bill's Movies, Video Powerstore, Video Update, and eventually Hollywood Video. But there were a few locals that manage to hold out like Video Paradise, and i definitely preferred giving them my business than Blockbuster. Plus i was pretty sure Blockbuster was getting edited videos as their version of Dead Alive was a lot more tame then other rental stores.

[@Deephouse_Gent66]

I had a few local video rentals that I frequented regularly, and they ALWAYS had films that Blockbuster was too family-oriented to carry. My local rentals had tons of martial arts films, anime, classic cult films, any number of special interest films... things you just couldn't get from homogenized Blockbuster.

[@Thunderflare99]

I'm sure everyone that's old enough has their Blockbuster story. They had a great gimmick and the stores were nice. Now part of nostalgia like depicted in "Captain Marvel". While streaming dominates, what happens with internet outages and how many times have you watched a movie to see buffering and the stupid message "something went wrong! Please try again later"? For example I had just rented 3 hour Oppenheimer and you want to do this in mid-stream?? Physical media can't be dismissed or left to die for collectors.

[@Thunderflare99]

@@TheACcam Yep. And I just had another DVD basically go down yesterday. Not a fingerprint or mark on the whole thing, just like the rest.

[@Monkofmagnesia]

i worked at a local Blockbuster their last three years and it was one of the best jobs I ever had!Blockbuster really did care about their employees and they gave them wonderful perks.

[@jkinghorn]

Blockbuster was a Friday night ritual, growing up going to my best friend's family's house to being an adult with my wife going out for dinner and stopping at blockbuster on the way home, over half our dvd collection is from the blockbuster bargain bin of used movies. It's sad to learn it was started by a guy that was good at software, and one of my last memories of them is seeing a Blockbuster Express kiosk in a supermarket with a windows blue screen of death on the monitor. Moving around a lot there were some independent video stores but I don't recall them being as friendly as depicted in that 'why we love the video store' documentary, usually some guy watching videos behind the counter, and dingy...dingy and darkly lit is what I mostly remember.

[@reiaino]

I worked at a Hollywood Video that was store 0 in the country. We were between a Rainbow Video a Blockbuster and another Hollywood Video down the road in a affluent suburb. The customers quickly learned that we weren't able to enforce late fees, our managers actually encouraged us to override them so they wouldn't go to one of the other stores. As first jobs go it was mostly fine, the best part was meeting my future partner and bonding over movies, tv shows and anime.

[@MayumiC-chan9377]

I remember when i first arrived in Albuquerque with my military husband where my husband grew up we always visited a regional video/dvd rental store called Hastings. I really do miss that store

[@kevinoswald4136]

I lived in flagstaff AZ. for sometime,had a hastings right across the street was a great store,but I haven't seen a store like it since.

[@MayumiC-chan9377]

@@kevinoswald4136 it’s sad when they left i can remember on sundays as a treat me and my husband would take our kids to Hastings super entertainment center so we can rent dvds and our kids could check out books and manga and me and my husband had Coffee and a scone and enjoy an off day. Good things of the past.

[@TitularHeroine]

We had Hastings in Colorado too. And yeah -- that was a great place!

[@MayumiC-chan9377]

@@TitularHeroine wahoo Hasting fans!

[@JackieWohlenhaus]

I worked for Hastings for just shy of a decade. We kept Blockbuster out of our town until the location was finally shuttered a few years back. Who remembers Hastings?

[@NeoDaOne]

when I went to visit my sister in college, her campus town had a blockbuster where you can go in and sit to listen to music before you buy. Never experienced that before or after.

[@tinyj4520]

FYE did that.

[@tomwheeler8288]

From 2nd grade till 8th grade my parents wned a store called Network Video. We got in on renting NES, SNES, and Genesis games. My childhood was sweet.

[@Getwright-]

Block buster was the worst. Now my local video store -that I miss! Block buster was always sold out of any good new movie and they charged by the night. My local place had 5 movies for 5 nights for $5. And they staff there were cool nerds and movie geeks. They turned me as a teenager on to stuff like troll 2, they live, and dead alive. Block buster star just had the same copy of terminator 2 every week, and employees who acted annoyed that I was there.

[@mekman4]

When I moved in with extended family in the Bronx back in the early 90’s, they introduced me to Bay Plaza which had a General Cinema, in walking distance from the house. We watched Jurassic Park 1 and Back to the Future 2 there, and on the other side of town, a place called Off the Wall video. Blockbuster hadn’t quite crept up onto us just yet. It would eventually, but up to that point, it hadn’t yet. I would rent the Tegen version of Pac-Man (the unlicensed black cartridge), and because Troma made a cartoon about it, the Toxic Crusader/Avenger 2. Why would they make a kid’s show out of that? I watched the sequel with my uncle and when things got…. Weird, I looked back at him with sincere apologies. Why would they make a kid’s show out of this? Troma trolled me. It was a good time. Great Stuff, as always. Lots of good memories, playing outside with friends, walking dogs, shoveling snow, playing football in the street in our cal du sac which ended by a fence and a steep drop into train tracks and a short cut through thick weeds which was a path to and from Truman High School, where I finally learned to swim. Great Stuff, as always. I’m not romantic about video rentals, I run enough errands as it is. There was a Blockbuster a few blocks away from my first apartment though, right on the same block or across the street from a Mc Donalds that stayed open for 24 hours. While I’d never do it today, you haven’t lived until you eaten a floppy Mc Donalds cheeseburger at 2:00am, which I did to celebrate my first job and my first apartment. Or out here in Philadelphia, where one can order a meatball sub at the local Wawas while night watch officers sing in unison, into the late night. Seed oils and quality absolutely matter and make the biggest difference for our wellbeing and sanity, but it was a different time. I don’t miss it, I would have cooked a meal instead.

[@rollingwithstones]

We had both a Blockbuster and several independent video rental stores. Three of our grocery stores also had video rentals. One of the local stores was called FLICK CITY and had a custom neon sign where the L and the I were placed too close together. True story.

[@GeekFusion_TV]

Thanks for the "Editor's Note" about the Adjust your Tracking Doc ...... It was a great watch!

[@longstoys]

I live in PA but we had a chain called west coast video where I used to rent tmnt vhs as a kid

[@corvus1970]

As someone who adored mom-and-pop Video stores and who worked at one as a first job, I laughed out loud when Blockbuster kicked the bucket. It helped destroy independent Video stores and homogenized the entire Video and Game rental ethos. Goodbye Blockbuster, I don't miss you, what I miss is what you destroyed.

[@drgribb]

💯 My feelings exactly. Well said.

[@Deephouse_Gent66]

How ironic is it that Blockbuster had at least two opportunities to OWN Netflix and declined both times? LOLOL!!! These 'Rise-n-Fall' stories are simply AMAZING!!

[@saywise1106]

That’s because the upper management had no interest in truly growing the business! They wanted to the quick money and then dump the business, which they did! When you have company head selling movies to the company he runs, smells corrupt to me!!!

[@CaptainHavfun-lp4ok]

@@saywise1106 They would of made more money, if they had a lil patience.

[@roblavalle7800]

I worked at Movie Gallery. It was such a fun job. It had a family feel the staff was great and worked so well together.

[@theTeleforce]

In my native Mexico City, Blockbuster was quick to take over the video rental business as they quickly picked up a reputation for usually having a lot of copies of popular movies, so you'd rarely drive over and not find what you were looking for. In retrospect, I guess their inventory system made a difference. Nothing like also picking up a bag of microwave popcorn while you were there, or some other snack, and I wound up building a small collection of Hot Wheels cars over the years from the ones I bought there. My dad built up quite a collection of VHS tapes of popular movies circa 2002 or so, when the local Blockbuster was liquidating its VHS inventory and switching to DVDs. I'm sure he still has some of those tapes, even if these days he has an Apple TV+ subscription he uses instead. Blockbuster lasted longer in Mexico than it did in the States, but it did eventually succumb; our old local Blockbuster has since been converted into a coffee shop. As in the US, streaming caused a major shift in the market that Blockbuster couldn't keep up with, but the management is ultimately to blame; the Mixup chain of music stores survived by striking a deal with Apple to sell Apple products as iShop+Mixup, and the conglomerate that owns the local telephone company started its own streaming service, so it's not like their end was inevitable (besides, street stands selling pirated DVDs still exist). Still, I'll always remember those video stores fondly, and there are some movies that I'll always associate with stopping by on the weekends with my dad. The Terminator, The Shining, Aliens, A Clockwork Orange, The Fugitive, The Matrix, Girls of Fear Factor... which my mother still doesn't know about, of course. As Nature dictates.

[@antr7493]

My manager use to let me take the new releases home before they were release. Plus we barter for free rentals with local businesses (taco bell, pizzerias , etc)

[@karlhaikara1629]

It was a real bummer when Blockbuster bought out the local rental place I grew up going to as Blockbuster was the most expensive place to rent from. I generally also liked Hollywood Video more as a horror fan they always had a much better horror section. Great days though renting movies and dvds was awesome walking around deciding what to rent, I've heard in some places the mom and pop type stores are starting to make a come back which would be cool, even with streaming I'd go to a rental store again if it had a great selection and cool people working there

[@billyhall2551]

Truth i miss rental stores because when I went I had to pick something I never left without a movie. Dose this mean i watched Trash? Yes, did It mean i watched movies i would never of watched? Yes, I loved trying something i might hate ot fi ding a new love.

[@HH_Julius]

Ha ha these editor's notes crack me up! CAN"T recommend them enough! 🤣🤣 First it was Family Video and then BB every Friday family movie night. Oh those were the days.

[@tonybaggett1984]

The crazy thing is Blockbuster was setup perfectly to capitalize on the mail in rental (Netflix) and automated vendor (Red Box) markets. Then adapt to on demand when technology became available. They were miles ahead of any competition in capital and brand recognition. Unfortunately they were stagnant and it killed them.

[@MM80666]

I miss those days. My Blockbuster was within walking distance and right next door to a Papa Gino's. I still remember renting TMNT III (not the movie!) on the NES the day they opened. I did enjoy the mom and pop stores more though. Better atmosphere, personality and weird horror movies. Shoutout to HUB Video in South Boston. RIP ☝

[@Kutulhu]

I work at Scarecrow Video in Seattle (The best and largest video store in the world). Blockbuster once tried to secretly buy us and close the store in the 90's. A judge was required to stay the sale when it was found out the buyer was working undercover for Blockbuster. Hollywood Video, to their credit, only tried to make their nearest store their best one and complete on that level. Neither could when it came to selection. (22:50 is the best shot of the store, with the Santa Sangre poster)

[@AL-hs3zl]

Hey scarecrow was great. Loved that place.

[@Kutulhu]

@@AL-hs3zl It IS great. We are still open. ;)

[@drewf41]

In my area, none of the stores that are in a former blockbuster have changed the doors. At least there's something of a legacy still standing...

[@Lou-T-Fisk]

We had a blockbuster but they were expensive we were able to keep a few small video stores in our town until the downfall of the industry. We also had a Hastings that is where I rented all my movies

[@prescriptionpete866]

I just wanted to say thanks, love your channels! I really appreciate the time and energy that goes into each one, it really shows! ❤🎉😊

[@raptorchow329]

Great video! Where I live in Canada, Blockbuster and Rogers Video were the two big chains. (Blockbuster had a small Japanese cartoon section, which was pretty rare in video stores at the time.)

[@ninjetti9898]

Blockbuster is one of those things that you just assumed would always be around. It was an American institution like Sears or Kmart, then you blink and they are no more 😢.

[@cthewave9955]

In Los Angeles, it was either Blockbuster...or Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee.

[@LcUlric]

I grew up in a tiny rural town 2 hrs from the nearest Blockbuster so we had to rent all our movies through our Grocery Store. One year for Christmas my Uncle got me a gift card to Blockbuster and my dad said, "what the fuck is he supposed to do with that ?"

[@Mylifeinthepits]

The blockbuster in my town is still a Blockbuster. It's closed, but the lights are still on and it has DVDs on the shelves.

[@iamkeandra]

Anyway we can connect. I'd love to get a pic of that.

[@shazam2323]

aint no way

[@CaptainHavfun-lp4ok]

That could be used for filming or something. I wonder what the reason for keeping the shelves stocked is... Often, if you see a grocery store in a show or movie, it can be the most expensive thing. If they don't build it, they have to shoot in it, when it's closed. The grocery store set was the most expensive thing in They Live. They couldn't rent out a store, and shoot it up.

[@Mylifeinthepits]

@CaptainHavfun-lp4ok I know people who worked there when it closed. Whatever is left on the shelves is what they didn't sell. The owner just closed it, locked the door and left it.

[@CaptainHavfun-lp4ok]

@@Mylifeinthepits What state? That would be perfect for filming. Especially for movies that take place in the 90's.

[@rustedbeetle]

Shout out to the Video Vault in Alexandria, VA that closed in 2010 that had 65,000+ tapes to rent, and was out go-to to find anything and everything available on tape. Also to our local Family Video that closed a couple of years ago, not due to covid, but to the writer's strike which resulted in a dearth of new releases, the rentals of which were their main income.

[@steelman774]

I worked at RecordBar&Tracks (a Durham, NC, based chain of around 180 stores) shortly before it was purchased and changed into a BlockBuster Music. I later transferred to a BlockBuster Video store nearer home. I real enjoyed both but the music store was the best. Free lawn seat tickets to any concert at the outdoor pavilion in Charlotte, NC, called… wait for it… BlockBuster Pavilion. The mid 90’s were good to the BlockBuster name. The fall of the video and music store also mirrored the fall of the local mall and most game arcades. We haven’t been as social as we were back then. Local stores where you could talk to clerks and customers alike about common interests. I hold no allegiance to BlockBuster themselves, but those were some good time!! ✌️😎

[@drgribb]

I like your sentiment! Stores like that (where you can talk to clerks and customers and where there is a communal vibe) do still exist, but one must seek them out. Try a local comic book store or record store (ymmv with both these kinds of stores, as some can be real gatekeep-y and pretentious while others are welcoming to all and cultivate real community). Wish we had stuff like that for video stores specifically though. If you're still in NC (whether that's CLT or Durham) I can give some recc's 🤙.

[@steelman774]

@@drgribbthere are a handful of comic book shops (and some decent comic conventions within close driving range) and we still have a couple of instrument music shops in our area, and even 1 record store. But it’s a cultural shift away from the masses and into the boutiques. I’m pleased that many of the comic shops have diverse into board games as I play more games than I read comics, but its still a more niche environment than it was. The people are great but the opportunities are more limited than they were.